Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Technology. As with all sectors of life, technology is changing the patient experience. While technology is literally changing patient, it’s also impacting the ancillary aspects of the patient experience as well. The following contributed post is entitled, Technology Is Changing the Patient Experience.
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Image from Pixabay – Pixabay License
Healthcare is one of the most important services that anyone will ever use and that any organization can provide. Healthy people are essential for a healthy society, so people need to be able to receive the healthcare that they require. For medical and healthcare providers, meeting their patients’ expectations and providing them with satisfaction is vital. The patient experience needs to be continually improving so that patients are happy with the care they receive and choose to remain with their healthcare providers for any future needs. Technology can help to improve the patient experience in a number of excellent ways, and is still developing to become even more useful.
Apps for Keeping Patients Updated and Engaged
Communicating well with patients is essential for any healthcare provider. Patients need to feel that they understand what is happening, and why things are happening too. Their family and friends also want to remain updated on their progress. At the same time, they need to know that any of their patient information is kept private and won’t get into the wrong hands. Apps like Ease are helping healthcare providers to improve Press Ganey scores with better communication. They can allow for messaging between doctors and patients, as well as their families, keeping them updated.
Image from Pixabay – Pixabay License
Reducing Medical Errors
Medical error could be responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year in the US. One reason serious medical errors could occur is if the doctor or other healthcare providers don’t have the necessary or correct information about the patient, medication or other important factors. Technology is helping to change this, with digital tools that make it easier to record and keep track of this vital information. For example, platforms for managing electronic prescribing and medical alerts can help to reduce errors and improve patient safety.
Make Care Easier to Access
Healthcare can also be made easier to access using technology today. One solution is telemedicine, which allows the use of apps, video calls and other tools to provide some types of healthcare to people online. Convenience is a huge factor in people’s interaction with any type of service, and that includes healthcare. If healthcare providers are far away or don’t have convenient appointment times, patients may be reluctant to engage with them. However, technology can offer a more accessible and convenient solution. Tech solutions can provide communication using several different channels to suit the patient.
Image from Pixabay – Pixabay License
Monitoring Health
Some healthcare providers are also using technology to help their patients monitor their health. For example, it’s possible for doctors to ask patients to wear a fitness tracker such as a Fitbit during the day. The patient can then share the data from their fitness tracker to show their doctor important information, such as their heart rate, oxygen levels, activity levels and other metrics that might be tracked. Some healthcare providers have their own apps to help their patients track various health measurements.
Technology continues to develop and could provide many more useful solutions in the future, with artificial intelligence especially offering some interesting possibilities.
